Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

By Doug Gross, CNN

Updated 12:14 PM ET, Wed July 2, 2014

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

35 years of the Walkman – Released in 1979, the TPS-L2 was the first model of Walkman that Sony released. It wasn't the very first portable cassette player designed to let users listen on the go. But the earlier product, called the Stereobelt, was considered too big, ugly and expensive and didn't last long.

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

The original – "Walkman" is an iconic brand name today. But originally, the Japanese Sony was afraid English-speaking customers would find the name odd and shipped it in the U.S. and other countries as "Soundabout." The company quickly recognized the error and returned to the original name.

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

Early doubts – Sony was originally unsure how popular its groundbreaking music player would be. Many analysts thought it wouldn't sell because it only played cassettes and couldn't record.

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

Walkman II – Two years later, in 1981, came the Walkman II. It was smaller than the original and barely bigger than a cassette tape. It sold around 1.5 million units. The Walkman II originally came only in silver, but black and red models were later added.

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

The Walkman ... in space – You know the Walkman was cutting-edge techology if NASA crews were using it. Here, space shuttle Discovery crew Michael L. Coats (pilot, left) and Steven A. Hawley (mission specialist, right) fall asleep listening to music on the lower deck of the shuttle in 1984.

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

Walkman Sports – The Walkman was a delicate piece of tech that you could carry around with you, as long as you were careful with it. Then came the "Sports Walkman," the WM-F5, in 1984, with an extra-thick plastic casing that made it water resistant and more durable.

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

Discman – It wasn't all about cassettes. The Discman was released in 1984, just two years after CDs were first mass-produced. With it, Sony helped solidify the compact disc's status as a viable music format. The D-50 (or D-5 in some countries, including the United States) was about the size of four compact disc cases and sold for $350.

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

Walkman in pop culture – In the early '90s, few things were more iconic than "Seinfeld" and the Walkman. Here, Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer sports a version of the portable cassette player.

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

More from the '90s – If the Fresh Prince sported one, it had to be cool, right? It's hard to be sure, but this may be a WM-EX88 that Will Smith is using. That model featured an all-new design and was built for ease-of-use, as well as having an LCD display of song information and a "skip track" feature.

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Photos:Happy 35th birthday, Walkman

The new generation – The Walkman line has lost much of its shine in the iPod era. But like the rest of the tech world, Sony has gone digital with its iconic product. The most recent Walkman mp3 players include last year's NWZ-W273. Smaller than many headphones, the set even lets you wear them in the pool.

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Story highlights

The Sony Walkman turns 35 on Tuesday

The cassette player was retired in 2010, but Walkman mp3 players remain

It was 35 years ago Tuesday that Sony, not Apple, revolutionized the way we listen to music.

The Walkman, a portable cassette player that, for the first time, let us take our music with us without bothering our neighbors, hit the market on July 1, 1979.

Today, it's all about Apple's iPod. But in its heyday, the Walkman was as synonymous with portable music players as Kleenex became to tissue and Xerox was to copy machines.